


A cup full of questions

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Coda, Gen, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Spoilers, the skywalker family tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 05:18:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5485052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Lesson number one: This weapon is your life. Try not to lose it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A cup full of questions

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Grief" by Richard Brostoff.

Rey's hand trembles--her whole body quivers--as she holds the lightsaber out to Luke Skywalker. It feels heavy in her hand, a sudden weight that threatens to overwhelm her again. Her heart pounds in her ears, her pulse is racing, and her breath comes in ragged huffs, and it's not just because of the climb up to the top of the cliff.

They stare at each other for a moment that feels like it stretches into eternity, and the sensation Rey now recognizes as the Force hums at fever pitch around them.

"You're alive," he says, snapping the tension. 

She exhales noisily, her shoulders slumping slightly in relief. She raises her other hand and then lets it drop to her side, unsure of what she intended to convey. "Yes." What else is there to say to that? 

He gives her a small smile though his eyes are bright with tears. "Then I guess you'd better come in."

She drops her gaze to the lightsaber she's still holding out between them. His smile widens, turns mischievous, as he comes towards her and wraps his hand around hers on the hilt. 

"Lesson number one," he says, like there's some joke she's not in on. "This weapon is your life. Try not to lose it."

"Okay." She hooks it back onto her belt and follows him into the temple.

It's old, so old that moss and vines have covered much of it, and the statues that aren't crumbled to dust already are faded and worn. She looks into blank faces of what must be ancient Jedi masters and sees only the rough grain of bare, black stone looking back.

She shivers, and tells herself it's just the sudden coolness of being inside after sweating through the climb. Even at its warmest, she doubts this island ever gets as hot as Jakku on a regular day. She doesn't miss the sand, but since she left, she sometimes feels like she'll never be warm again. It's worth it, though, just to see how much green there is in the galaxy, and how much water.

Luke notices, because he says, "You'll get used to the chill."

"But not the ocean?"

"I don't think I'll ever get used to the ocean," he replies, "but I try not to let it distract me anymore."

The passageway they're in widens into a large, open space. The high windows have no panes, so they let in a soft breeze in addition to sunlight. Birds circle overhead, calling to each other. The statues here are finer, less worn, made of white stone instead of black. They line the edges of the vast room, but Luke doesn't linger so Rey can't get a good look at them.

He leads her through a small door into another hallway that ends in a small kitchen. Surprisingly, it hums with electricity. 

"Have you eaten?" he asks, taking a container out of the refrigerator. "I could eat."

"Sure," she says. 

"I brought the generator with me," he says in answer to her unasked question. "I'm pretty good at keeping things running."

"Yeah," she says. "Me, too."

She needs to tell him--about Han, about Kylo Ren, about everything--but she sits in silence while he heats the food and serves it to her. She's expecting the kind of food she's most familiar with--bland protein paste or ration bars--but it's soup of some sort, hot and full of rice and leafy greens.

"It's good," she says, unable to hide her surprise.

"Thanks." His delighted smile makes him look younger. "I got tired of eating protein bars and there was already a garden out back." He shakes his head. "I had to learn to farm vegetables instead of vaporators."

"You were a moisture farmer?" she asks. He keeps surprising her.

He nods. "On Tatooine."

"I'm from the desert, too."

His expression turns sad. "I know." He sets his spoon down in his bowl. "What should I call you?"

"My name is Rey."

He looks at her as if he can see right through her. Of course, he's a Jedi master, so he probably can. She tries not to think about that. 

"Okay, Rey. Why have you come here?"

"I--" She looks down at the lightsaber on her belt and then back up at him, forcing herself to meet his gaze. "The Resistance needs you." He waits. "The General needs you." That's closer to what he's waiting for, she thinks, but still he says nothing. Finally, she says, "I need you to teach me the ways of the Force."

He laughs. Her face flushes and she straightens, ready to take umbrage, but then she gets the sense that he's not laughing at her. 

"Of course you do. Come on, then." He gets up and carries his bowl and spoon to the sink. "Even the washing up can be a meditation," he says. He points at a dish towel. "You can dry."

Over the soft clink of dishes and spoons, she tells him in a halting voice what happened. Her voice breaks when she gets to the part about Kylo Ren killing Han, and everything in the room flickers briefly--the lights, the power, possibly reality itself. She's not sure, but she knows that wasn't her.

"I know," he says, sadly, his gaze trained on the now-empty sink in front of him. "I failed Ben. I'm still not sure how. I don't--" His mouth twists. "I had very little training," he finally says, "but I knew how to do the right thing. Or I thought I did." He shakes his head. "Maybe I was too proud. I claim to be a Jedi, but there's still so much I don't know. So much was lost." He takes a deep breath and looks up at Rey, meeting her gaze squarely now. "But so much has been found, as well. And what we can't find, we can recreate, better than before." He nods decisively and she finds herself nodding back at him, though she's not sure yet what she's just agreed to.

"I'll train you," he says, putting his left hand on her shoulder. Wetness seeps through her clothes but she ignores it. "You'll be a Jedi like your father, and like his father before him."

Her eyes widen in shock but the Force rings with the truth of it. There will be time for explanations--she certainly plans to demand them--but for now she says, "Yes," and it has all the weight of a vow.

end

**Author's Note:**

> I can't help but believe Rey is a Skywalker.


End file.
